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Syria in change - Solution for the Kurdish issue

Since 15th March of this year, citizens rose up against the regime in Syria, which is considered as one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in the Arab world. The reaction of the Syrian regime on the protests of the Syrian people has showed this brutality. Thousands of Syrians have paid with their life for their demand for freedom, democracy and human rights.

The human rights situation in Syria is tragic. There is no freedom of speech or press. Controlling the media with a strict censorship belongs to the everyday life of the Syrians. The regime arrests and tortures human rights activists and oppositions. Many of those have been killed last year under torture in decent conditions in prisons. The victims of torture often suffer lifelong problems as a result of physical and psychological torture during detention; many of them die after torture. A network of security establishments with thousands of agents control the daily life of the Syrians. Daily violations of human rights such as arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance of inconvenient persons are documented.

Since nearly 50 years there is no legally existing opposition.The Baath party is the alone controlling and dominant political party in Syria. Beside the opposition, persons who belong to national and religious minorities are the most victims of the persecution of the State, particularly the Kurds, who are the second largest nation in the country and have been suffering for several decades of oppression and violation of their rights.

The government is trying to solve the Kurdish issue through a policy of racism based on the assimilation and forced Arabization, which bans the use of the Kurdish language and does not allow any Kurdish media. In 1962 the Syrian government has withdrawn the citizenship from thousands of Kurds. Those and their children have lost their basic rights, such as the right to own property, education and the right of registration and documentation of their marriage and the right of nomination and election and the right of employment in state institutions. The Kurds have been expropriated their land without any compensation and the land has been given to Arab farmers from other regions who were brought to the Kurdish areas.

The aim of these measures is to change the demographic face in the Kurdish areas. The aim of the protests taking place in Syria is to achieve a democratic change. the following demands should be quickly realized:

1 - Stop the violence by the state against the citizens immediately

2 - To let the media and foreign journalists to enter the country and cover the events taking place in Syria and report freely to the world public opinion

3 - The release of all political prisoners.

4 – The international community shall to respond more determined to condemn the misdeed of the Syrian regime. As the increased tension and escalation in Syria, could have serious consequences on the region and threaten the world peace. The UN Security Council therefore must do its duty in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, followed by economic sanctions and impose a weapon embargo on Syria.

5 - The European Union must act more resolutely toward the Syrian regime and stop all cooperation with the regime. The behaviour of the Syrian regime towards the Syrian people must be reflected in the European Neighbourhood Policy towards Syria.

6 - Abolish the delivery of asylum seekers agreement signed by the German government with the Syrian government, and not to deport asylum seekers to Syria, where their life is in danger.

7 - The German government should stop its cooperation with Syria and increase the diplomatic pressure on Syrian and pronounce the Syrian ambassador in Berlin persona non grata and ask him to leave Germany.

The following objectives should be achieved in the medium and long term, to ensure the transition to a democratic state, in which the human right are guaranteed and respected:

1 - The process of democratic reform to achieve equality between all groups, and national and religious minorities in the country.

2 - Allowing the establishment of political parties and the repeal of Article VIII of the Constitution, which monopolized the authority under which the Baath Party, and the elimination of one-party system.

3 - Establishment of a National Council with the participation of all the groups in Syrian on an equal basis to write a new democratic constitution which takes into account the national and religious pluralism in the country, and guarantee freedom of opinion and the media and the separation of powers. The constitution shall guarantee modern election system and the state of law and should gain its legitimacy through a referendum. The constitution shall ensure the protection of national and religious minorities and the recognition of their fundamental rights and guarantee them more participation and self determination rights and replace the total central government structure into a federal system. The Syrian people shall decide for themselves and their destiny freely and achieve its political and cultural development.

4 – Solution of the Kurdish issue in Syria based on democratic principle of self-determination right within the unity of the Syrian state through:

- Ensure the participation of the Kurds in the political and economic life of Syria.

- Ensure the right of return to all Kurds who were removed from their areas.

- Recompense all Kurdish farmers who were stripped of their property and deported from their areas.

- Elimination of the Arabic belt.

- The constitutional recognition of political and cultural rights of Kurds.

- Allow the use the Kurdish language and open Kurdish in schools and universities.

- Return the Syrian nationality to the Kurds who lost it arbitrary and recompense them and ensure them all of their civil rights.

- Development the Kurdish area which suffers underdevelopment as a result of racial policy of the Syrian governments over the last decades.

Kurdisches Zentrum für juristische Studien und Beratungen

Kurdish Center for Studies and Legal Consultancy

Navenda kurdî ji bo lêkolîn û rawêjkarîya yasayî

YASA e.V.

Postfach 7624

53076 Bonn

www.yasa-online.org

Photo: Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians united for freedom in Qamishlo, a Kurdish city in north west Syria